Specialty Mushrooms in Agroforestry

Specialty and gourmet mushroom production is a promising component
of the Center's forest farming research dimension. In fact, UMCA supports one
of only two research programs in the nation working to develop the premium,
high-dollar European black truffle as a forest farming crop for landowners,
and is finding that this gourmet mushroom grows well in Missouri soil. Research
is also being conducted to develop morel, shiitake and other gourmet mushrooms
into profitable agroforestry crops in a forest farming practice.

Forest farming, one of the five agroforestry practices, can
enhance and diversify farm income opportunities, while at the same time making
significant improvements to the composition and structure of the forest for
long-term improvements in overall health, quality and economic value. By developing
an understanding of the interactions between the overstory trees and the understory
environment, forest management activities can be used to create an understory
capable of growing profitable shade-loving crops -- such as gourmet mushrooms.

Not only can specialty mushrooms be grown on a range of acreage
allotments, mushroom cultivation is a sustainable and profitable way to recycle
low-value forestry by-products, including non-merchantable stems and branch
wood. Utilizing shade levels and understory from a forest farming practice,
UMCA scientists and collaborators are determining the best suited types of mushrooms
for Missouri soils. The goal of this research is to refine established production
techniques for a diverse suite of outdoor mushroom species and enable Missouri
landowners to capture a growing gourmet market

Specialty Mushroom Workshops

Through international collaborations and information exchanges,
and programs close to home -- including a series of guidesheets and annual Specialty
Mushroom Workshops -- the Center continues to accumulate a practical, scientifically-sound
knowledge base for the benefit of Missouri landowners who are entering the specialty
mushroom market. More than 40 participants from across the Midwest attended
the February 2006 workshop, designed to teach the basics of production and/or
marketing techniques for specialty gourmet mushrooms, including shiitake, oyster
and Stropharia. University of Missouri research faculty members, professional
mushroom growers and marketers provided participants the knowledge and skills
needed to get started growing and marketing mushrooms. A hands-on tour of the
mushroom cultivation sites at the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research
Center, New Franklin, Mo., featured demonstrations of UMCA current research
and explored the steps involved in growing mushrooms in a forest farming setting.
Read more about the workshop.

Shiitake Mushroom Success Story

One of the state's most significant demonstrations of a successful
forest farming practice is Dan Hellmuth and Nicola Macpherson's Ozark Forest
Mushrooms, Timber, Mo. The entrepreneurial couple established the specialty
mushroom operation in 1990 on what was then a timber operation, and coordinate
every step of the value-added process, from the inoculated log to packaged,
consumer-friendly products. Under the guidelines of the Stewardship Incentive
Program, administered by the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), Hellmuth
and Macpherson harvest a renewable supply of mushroom bed logs while simultaneously
maintaining their forested acres in a healthy ecological state - and what began
14 years ago with only 100 oak logs in production has grown to include 12,000
shiitake logs in production.

A new greenhouse with a wood furnace for burning spent/culled
shiitake logs has been completed for researching mushroom cultivation during
the cold season and sustainable usage of wood resources. Packaged products marketed
by Ozark Forest Mushrooms include dried and fresh shiitakes, oyster mushrooms,
and seasoned mushroom meal mixes featuring Asian and Indian influences

It's hard work that doesn't stop," Macpherson said, "but when
I walk into a restaurant and see my mushrooms on the menu, or walk into a supermarket
and see our products on the shelf, that gives me huge pleasure and makes all
the work worthwhile.

ABSTRACT
Two outdoor shiitake (Lentinula edodes (Berk.) Pegler) cultivation
experiments were established at the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research
Center in central Missouri in December 1999 and May 2000. Fruiting began in
August 2000. We compared two models for analysis of treatment effects through
2003.

Background

Values of woodland ownership can be enhanced through mushroom cultivation.

Mushroom production is compatible with many other management objectives.

Though about two-thirds of central U.S. woodland mushroom growers have other income, nearly all consider mushroom cultivation part of their career, and nearly all grow shiitake (3).

While a great deal of descriptive literature on log-based shiitake cultivation exists (e.g., 5-9), experimental studies relevant to the central U.S. are scarce (e.g., 1, 2, 10).

A research and demonstration project has been initiated at the University of Missouri Center for Agroforestry (UMCA) to identify best management practices for woodland cultivation of specialty fungi, including shiitake (Fig. 1).

We present results of two experiments which evaluate the effects of several management factors on natural (non-forced) fruiting.

Objectives
Specific research objectives of the two experiments presented here are to:

compare shiitake strain productivity;

compare the productivity of several readily available substrate tree species;

compare the productivity of the most readily available forms of spawn;

evaluate the productivity associated with early winter and spring inoculation;

compare analyses of biological efficiency (BE) with a new form of regression model that uses total mushroom weight (TW) produced by each log as the response variable while including variables characterizing each log as covariates.